May, 2008

cmntz

May 12th, 2008

One of the first assignments from my CS493 (Web Browser Architecture) was to write a Firefox extension. I came up with the idea of creating a sidebar which would display a discussion on the current page a user is viewing. Jump on the whole socialization of the internet bandwagon and all. So I made this extension came up with the stupidest, most web 2.0, name I could think of: cmntz.

I wrote the web-application side of it in such a way that users can be authenticated without having to register an account (in the traditional sense) and remember a password. To post a comment you must first obtain a token. This token identifies you and should be kept secret. To get your token you enter your email address here and a token will be generated and emailed to you. If you ever lose your token you can just fill out the form again. This system relies on the security and authentication mechanism of a user’s email account. Only the owner of the email address will be able to get the token for that email address, so no one will be able to mascaraed as another person.

I chose this authentication mechanism because I personally hate having to register for every site I visit and remember a password for that site. It’s nearly impossible to come up with a different password for each site that requires authentication and most of the time I will only visit once or twice to test it out and never return. So with that in mind I developed a system that was simple to implement, requires very little user interaction, and provides adequate security. My thinking is that a low entry barrier will help encourage adoption of my extension.

Well enough of that rant. If you would like to check it out here are the relevant links:

Posted in code by Tommy Murphy | No Comments »